117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 407
AN ACT
To provide redress to the employees of Air America.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Air America Act of 2022
.
Air America
Findings
Congress finds the following:
Air America, Incorporated (referred to in this section as Air America) and its related cover corporate entities were wholly owned and controlled by the United States Government and directed and managed by the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency from 1950 to 1976.
Air America, a corporation owned by the Government of the United States, constituted a Government corporation
, as defined in section 103 of title 5, United States Code.
The service and sacrifice of the employees of Air America included—
suffering a high rate of casualties in the course of employment;
saving thousands of lives in search and rescue missions for downed United States airmen and allied refugee evacuations; and
lengthy periods of service in challenging circumstances abroad.
Definitions
In this section—
the term affiliated company, with respect to Air America, includes Air Asia Company Limited, CAT Incorporated, Civil Air Transport Company Limited, and the Pacific Division of Southern Air Transport;
the term qualifying service means service that—
was performed by a United States citizen as an employee of Air America or an affiliated company during the period beginning on January 1, 1950, and ending on December 31, 1976; and
is documented in the attorney-certified corporate records of Air America or any affiliated company;
the term survivor, with respect to an individual who performed qualifying service, means—
a widow or widower of the individual who performed qualifying service; or
an individual who, at any time during or since the period of qualifying service, was a dependent or child of the individual who performed qualifying service; and
the terms widow, widower, dependent, and child have the meanings given those terms in section 8341(a) of title 5, United States Code, except that that section shall be applied by substituting individual who performed qualifying service
for employee or Member
.
Creditable service
Any period of qualifying service shall be treated as creditable service for purposes of subchapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code.
Rights
In general
An individual who performed qualifying service or a survivor of such an individual—
shall be entitled to the rights, retroactive as applicable, provided to employees and their survivors for creditable service under the Civil Service Retirement System under subchapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to that qualifying service; and
may submit an application for benefits based on the qualifying service to the Office of Personnel Management not later than 2 years after the effective date under section 2(g) of this Act.
Individuals deceased before date of enactment
A survivor of an individual who performed qualifying service and became eligible, by reason of this Act, for benefits based on the qualifying service under subchapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code (but became deceased before the date of enactment of this Act)—
may submit an application for benefits based on the qualifying service to the Office of Personnel Management not later than 2 years after the effective date under section 2(g) of this Act, disregarding any requirement that an employee have filed an application while living; and
upon submission of the application under subparagraph (A), shall be eligible for a survivor annuity under section 8341 of title 5, United States Code, equal to 55 percent (or 50 percent if the deceased individual retired before October 11, 1962) of the self-only annuity (as defined in section 838.103 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation)) that otherwise would have been paid to the deceased individual.
Deduction, contribution, and deposit requirements
The deposit of funds in the Treasury of the United States made by Air America in the form of a lump-sum payment apportioned in part to the Civil Service Disability and Retirement Fund in 1976 is deemed to satisfy the deduction, contribution, and deposit requirements under section 8334 of title 5, United States Code, with respect to all periods of qualifying service.
Rule of construction
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to set any type of precedent for purposes of civil service retirement credit with the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund or any successor fund.
Effective date
This Act shall take effect on the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
Passed the Senate June 14, 2022.
Secretary